Friday, May 02, 2008

For Military Families...

Talk, Listen, Connect

While assigned to the new Defense Center of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic brain injury, CDR Russell Shilling, an Aerospace Experimental Psychologist, helped launch a program with Sesame Street to help children adjust to a parent changed by psychological or physical injuries received in combat.

He was assisted throughout the process by LT David Gribben, an HCA. The program also helps children deal with the stresses of deployments and multiple deployments. The Sesame Street resources consist of a bilingual (English/Spanish) multimedia outreach kit with DVDs for children and adults starring the Muppets from Sesame Street and interviews with military families who are coping with issues related to deployments and/or injuries. The kits also contain print materials for children, parents, caregivers and facilitators.

Sesame Workshop will produce and distribute 400,000 kits via Military OneSource to individual families, schools, child care programs, family support programs, hospitals, rehabilitation centers and other organizations serving the needs of military families.

"In recognition of the contributions made by the United States Armed Forces, Sesame Workshop presents this bilingual educational outreach initiative designed for military families and their young children to share.

We are proud to offer support to help military families as they face challenging transitions."